Engine starter



Oct. 4', 1932. BURTON 1,880,769

ENGINE STARTER Filed July 24, 1931 .DVVEN TOR,

power transmission mechanism.

Patented Oct. 4, 1932 FFICE HENRY BURTON, or GARDENA, CALIFORNIA ENGINE STARTER Application filed July 24,

My invention relates to an improvement in The principal object of my invention is to provide a simple transmission wherein engagement of a driving and driven element is effected by acceleration in one direction of the driving element and disengagement is automatically eflected whenever the driven element outruns the driving element.

' My invention also provides gears adapted to be easily engaged and disengaged by other means without regard to their relative speeds.

'The gist of my invention being a gear adapted to be distended or collapsed so it will engage or disengage another gear as distinguished fro-m gears shiftable bodily into and out of engagement.

My invention is here disclosed as embodied in an engine starter for starting automobile engines. The construction is such that initial rotation of the starting motor causes a pin gear to be distended so as to engage the fly wheel gear and when the engine starts on its own power the increased speed of the fly wheel gear causes the pin gear to collapse so as to disengage said fly wheel gear.

In describing my invention, reference is had to the accompanying drawing. 7 c Figure .1 is a front elevation of the collapsible pin gear and a segment of the. driven gear.

Figure 2 is a side view of the collapsible pin gear with the spacing member partly cut away to show the arrangement of the gear members or cogs.

Figure 3 is a detail drawing of one of the movable cogs.

Figure 4 is a half front elevation of the gear body with two of the cogs in place. The dotted lines and arrows showing how the cogs In Figure 2 the gear body 1 is secured to V the shaft 2 by the set screw 3. The spacing member 4 fits loosely upon shaft 2 and gear body 1. Pins 5-, (see Fig. 5) project through 0 slots 6 and preventaxial movement of the 1931. Serial N0. 552,931.

spacing member but permit limited rotation thereof relative to the gear bodyl. The cogs 7, 7-04, areround pins, oflset as shown in Figure 3. The inner portion 7a, of each pin flts loosely in a hole 8, in gear body 1. The holes 8, are equally spaced near and parallel to the central bore of the gear body 1.

Referring to Figure 4:, it will be seen that the pins 7 a are rotatable relative to the gear body 1, so that their projecting portions 7 are movable in an are from and toward the centre. The face of spacing. member 4L is providedlwith slots 9, (see Figure 1) through which the pins 7 project and act as cogs. The slots 9 are equally spaced and are so designed that when the spacing member 4 is rotated in one direction relative to the gear body the pins are rotated so as to move their projecting portions 7 outward or away from the centre and when the relative rotation is in the opposite direction the pins 7 are moved inward or toward the centre.

Assume the pin gear in Figure 1 to be turning in a clockwise direction and driving the spur gear 10; the pressure upon the project- 7 ing portion 7 of the pins will tend torotate the spacing member 4 in a counter direction which will press all of the pins 7 firmly against the outerilimits of the slots 9, thus forming a rigid pin gear with its pins 7 meshing with the teeth of gear 10. If, however, the gear 10 attempts to drive the pin gear, the pressure upon the pins 7 will be reversed and the spacing member 4 will be rotated relative to the gear body 1, in' the direction of its rotation. This relative rotation will turn all of the pins so as to slide the projecting portions 7 to the inner limits of the slots 9, where they will be out of the path of travel of the teeth of gear 10*.

Sudden acceleration of the gear body 1 will cause a' slippage or relative counter rotation of spacing member 4, because of its inertia and because of the centrifugal force exerted upon the pins 7 by rotation of the gear body 1, so that said pins will all be simultaneously moved to the outer limits of slots 9 and engage the teeth of gear 10. Likewise when the gear body 1, stops suddenly, spacing member 4, continues to rotate by reason of its momentum and gathers the pins in a smaller circle about shaft 2.

Figure 5 illustrates the drive used as an engine starter. The accessory elements and arrangement thereof is the same as is found on practically all present automobiles. The familiar electric motor is indicated at 12. The usual spur gear attached to the flywheel of the gas engine is indicated at 10. The extended armature shaft 2, carries the above described collapsible pin gear. face of flange 13 is provided with grooves in which the ends of pins 7 travel in their centrifugal and centripetal movements, The flange 13, is not absolutely essentiah'but it adds strength to the gear by providing support for the outer ends of the pins 7 when they are in action, and adds a finished appearance to the pm gear.

When electric current is applied in the usual manner to the starting motor 12 the gear body 1, starts suddenly. Spacing member 4, being retarded by its inertia, gear body 1 rotates relative thereto and the pins .7 are moved outward into engagement with the flywheel gear 10. 7 So long as the starting motor 12 is the driving element the pin gear remains rigidly distended, but when the gas engine starts on-its own power, gear 10 will by reason of its increased speed become the driving element and willcause spacing member 4:, to rotate faster than gear body 1 and the pin gear will collapse in the manner hereinbefore described. Because of friction between spacing member 4 and the gear body 1, the starting motor and gas engine may continue to run independently and the gears will not be again engaged until thestarting motor is stopped and started again. If the starting motor is started while the engine is running at a speed greater than the starting motor would drive it the gears will not engage because, when the pins 7 move outward they will encounter the teeth of gear 10, moving in the same direction at greater speed, which will cause spacing member 4 to rotate faster than gear body 1 and immediately withdraw all of the pins 7 out of the path of travel of the teeth of gear 10. 7

My invention is not limited to engine starters, but it is applicable in any situation where the transmission of power is controlled by the shifting of gears.

By the provision of any suitable mechanism adapted to rotate and to positively position the spacing member i relative to the gear body 1, while it is either in motion or stationary, the shifting may be controlled manually and either gear may be thedriving element. The gear teeth or cogs need not necessarily be round pins. The projecting portions 7 may be shaped into accurately formed gear teeth where scientific accuracy 1s requlred.

I claim: 7

The inner .body thereof, means whereby pressure eXerted upon said movable cogs in one direction tangent to their path of rotation tends to move them into cooperation, with the other of said gears, and pressure in the opposite direction tends to move them out of cooperation with the other gear, whereby motion may be transmitted from one gear to the other in only one direction.

3. A gear comprising in combination a gear body, cogs rotatable therewith and having limited centrifugal and centripetal movement relative thereto, means by which pressure upon said cogs in one direction tangent to their path'of rotation tends to cause centrifugal movement and pressure in the opposite direction tends to cause centripetal movement of said cogs whereby they will 00- and out of cooperation with another gear.

5. A gear comprising in combination a gear body, cogs, movable centrifugally and centripetally thereof, a spacing elementrrotatable relative to the gear body adapted to spacethe cogs in a circle concentric with the gear body, to cause synchronous centrifugal movement ofthe cogs when rotated in one direction relative tothe gearbody, to cause centripetal movement of said cogs when rotated in the opposite direction, means for limiting said relative movements, and means for effecting said relative rotation of the spao ing element and gear body whereby the cogs are moved into and out of cooperation with another gear. l 6. An engine starter comprising in combination a motor, a driving element incooperation therewith a driven element associated with the engine to be started said driving and driven elements being rotatable about sepaing and collapsing said element whereby the driving and driven elements are brought into and out of cooperation and means for maintaining symmetry of the collapsible element.

7 An engine starter comprising in combination a motor, a gear body adapted to be rotated thereby, cogs movable relative to the gear body a spacing member movable relative to the gear body adapted to move the cogs into cooperation with a gear of the engine to be started whenever said spacing member is moved, in one direction relative to the gear body, to move the cogs out of cooperation with the engine gear whenever said spacing member is moved in the opposite direction relative to the gear body and means for effecting said relative movements of the spacing member.

8. An engine starter comprising in'combia nation a motor, a gear body in cooperation therewith, cogs movable centrifugally and centripetally of the gear body, a spacing member rotatable in a limited degree relative to the gear body adapted to move the cogs centrifugally into cooperation with a gear of the engine started whenever said spacing member is rotated relative to the gear body counter to its normal rotation and to move the cogs out of coo eration with the engine gear whenever sai spacing member is rotated relative to the gear body in the direction of its normal rotation, means for retarding rotation of the spacing member to cause relative counter rotation thereof upon initial rotation of the gear body and means whereby the engine when started drives the spacing member faster than the gear body.

HENRY BURTON. 

